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The Politics of the Fatwa: Modern Islamic Legal Authority and Rise of the Indonesian Council of Ulama

Jeremy Menchik Assistant Professor

Pardee School of Global Studies Boston University

8 August 2019

Abstract: Fatwas from Islamic organizations are prominent elements of public debates in democratic Indonesia, as well as the broader Muslim world. Yet scholars lack a clear theoretical explanation for the power of fatwas in politics. This paper draws on original archival material to explicate the legal authority of the fatwas from the Indonesian Council of Ulama (Majelis Ulama Indonesia, MUI), which over the past twenty years has become one of the country’s most influential actors. The paper distinguishes three periods in the growth and transformation of MUI’s authority; starting with charismatic authority and state corporatism, MUI later gained formal regulatory authority, and now uses agenda setting, lobbying, mass mobilization, and the threat of violence. By examining how the power of MUI’s fatwas increased as the organization accrued more forms of authority, this periodization demonstrates that explaining the political power of the fatwa requires understanding the modern organizational authority of Islamic actors. In the modern age, Islamic legal authority reflects the dominant logic of political authority in society. Keywords: Islamic law, Islamic law and society, religion, Indonesia

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I. Introduction On December 2, 2016, the National Movement to Safeguard the Fatwa of the Indonesian

Council of Ulama (Gerakan Nasional Pengawal Fatwa Majelis Ulama Indonesia, GNPF-MUI)

staged the largest rally in Indonesian history. Over 750,000 people filled the plaza around the

National Monument in Central Jakarta for the rally led by Indonesia’s leading Islamist

organizations, who were demanding action against Jakarta’s Chinese Christian governor for

alleged blasphemy against Islam. The event was attended not just by Islamists, but also by

president Joko Widodo, the head of MUI’s Fatwa Commission Ma’ruf Amin, and members of

more moderate Muslim organizations. The event was a triumph for the power of Islamists in

setting the political agenda for Indonesian politics. At the epicenter of that triumph was a fatwa

from the MUI.

Since 2005, fatwas from MUI have shaped public debates and state policies concerning

blasphemy, religious pluralism, minority rights, vaccinations, pornography, smoking, and

interfaith relations, among other issues. Internationally, fatwas from prominent clerics like

Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran have engendered heated debates about their influence. Yet, scholars

lack a political theory of the fatwa and therefore follow Max Weber in assuming that a fatwa’s

influence is a function of charisma or state corporatism (Weber 1947). This paper contends that

we need to go beyond Weber, beyond charisma, and beyond corporatism in order to explain

modern Islamic legal authority.

MUI is now one of the most powerful actors in Indonesia. Yet, missing from this literature is

an explanation for MUI’s rise to power. The seminal text on Islamic law and society in

Indonesia, Daniel Lev’s Islamic Courts in Indonesia: A Study in the Political Bases of Legal

Institutions (1972) was written prior to MUI’s creation. There are only two English-language

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scholarly books devoted to MUI, both of them researched prior to democratization in 1998 and

the rise of MUI (Porter 2002; Mudzhar 1993). Since 2005 there has been an uptick in journal

articles devoted to MUI, but due to space constraints these writings address only narrow aspects

of MUI, usually in the form of descriptive analysis of the content of MUI’s fatwas or normative

laments about MUI’s challenge to liberal pluralism (Ali 2002; Hasyim 2011, 2015; Hosen 2004;

Ichwan 2005; Sirry 2013; Nasir 2014). While there are a few more comprehensive accounts

(Ichwan 2002, 2005; ICG 2008, 8-10; Olle 2009), missing from the literature is a synthetic

account of how MUI came to occupy a position of such power.

This paper attempts to address both gaps by explaining the power of MUI’s fatwas over time

as a function of the forms and degrees of authority that MUI itself has accrued. In the 1960s, Lev

noted that the relatively minor influence of Islamic courts in Indonesia was related to the minor

influence of Islamic political movements (1972). No one would make such a claim today. MUI is

an usually creative and innovative Islamic organization, unshackled by formal constitutional

constraints or the ideological limitations of secularism. Rather than delegating religious affairs to

the public sphere, MUI has fought against the differentiation of religion from other social

spheres. MUI has created new regulatory bodies for oversight of Islamic banking and food

certification. MUI has asserted and achieved authority over social spheres once controlled by

Suharto’s New Order regime and Islamic civil society, such as media oversight, expert authority,

mass mobilization, and more.

To demonstrate this evolution, the paper distinguishes three periods in the history of MUI

and demonstrates that in each era, fatwas from MUI exerted authority through distinct

mechanisms, and these forms of authority accumulated over time.

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In the first period, from 1975 to 1990, MUI relied on a combination of charismatic authority

and expert authority derived from its status as a quasi-state body. MUI was essentially a model

of state corporatism, created by Suharto in order to control ulama in the same way that the

Islam-based Unity and Development Party (Partai Persatuan Pembanguan, PPP) provided a

vehicle to control Muslim political parties. In this period, the Weberian framework is indeed

effective for Islamic legal authority.

In the second period, from 1990 to 2005, MUI became a regulatory body with state-backed

coercive power over Islamic banking and halal food certification. This was a period of

institutional innovation. Key to MUI’s new power was the overlap between MUI officials and

the architects of the Association of Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals (Ikatan Cendekiawan

Muslim Se-Indonesia, ICMI). In period II, MUI became not just “quasi-state” but a formal state

institution. Paradoxically, however, after democratization MUI also began to gain autonomy

from the state as a result of substantive disagreements with then-Presidents Abdurrahman Wahid

and Megawati Sukarnoputri, as well as financial autonomy as a result of its lucrative Islamic

banking and halal food certification programs.

In the final period, from 2005 to the present, MUI has extended its authority even further

and has begun to reap the benefits of innovation. It continues to receive funding from the state

and to appoint charismatic leaders, as in period I. It also continues to exert regulatory control

over Islamic banking and food certification, and in fact has expanded its reach to overseas

markets. It has also expanded its influence over media through close relationships with two other

regulatory agencies, the Film Censorship Board (Lembaga Sensor Film, LSF) and the Indonesian

Broadcasting Commission (Komisi Penyiaran Indonesia, KPI). Period III is distinct, however, in

that MUI has come to align with and even direct mass movements in order to put pressure on the

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state. This alliance was implicit in the late 1990s and 2000s, but in recent years has become

overt, with leaders of radical Islamic mass movements now on MUI’s central board, including

Maman Abdurrahman of Persatuan Islam, the Salafi Muhammad Zaitun Rasmin, and the

organizer of the GNPF-MUI, Bachtiar Nasir. Additionally, Ma’ruf Amin gained the authority of

a cabinet member when he was appointed to Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s Presidential

Advisory Council (Dewan Pertimbangan Presiden) in 2007, giving him immediate access to the

president on a nearly weekly basis, as well as to the heads of other government ministries. In

sum, in period III MUI has expanding its regulatory powers while adding lobbying, mass

mobilization, and coercive authority through vigilante organizations like FPI to gain leverage

over other state institutions, thereby gaining the power of a social movement and even becoming

a competitor to the state’s monopoly on the legitimate use of force. In this period, MUI has

begun setting the agenda for Indonesian politics.

This periodization demonstrates the limitations of existing accounts of fatwas and their

authority for explaining the case of MUI. Traditional theories of Islamic legal authority depict

fatwas as a form of “non-binding” opinion, which accurately describes MUI’s fatwas only in

period I, and then only partially, due to MUI’s affiliation with the state. Likewise, state-

corporatism theories fall short given MUI’s autonomy; MUI’s fatwas do not automatically

become binding state law like those of the state-appointed muftis in Malaysia.

Ethical theories of the fatwa are similarly unhelpful. Drawing on two years of ethnographic

observation of the fatwa council of al-Azhar, the most esteemed center of Sunni learning in the

Muslim world, Hussein Agrama convincingly demonstrates that fatwas can be a way for the

mufti and Muslim to jointly find an ethical path to the ideal Muslim self (2010). Yet an ethical

theory of the fatwa cannot explain the authority of MUI, which operates nothing like the affable

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ulama of al-Azhar. MUI’s fatwas are issued to great media attention. They are drafted following

testimony by experts in state law, Islamic law, economic development, and security. They are

crafted collectively and issued on MUI letterhead with the MUI stamp of approval and the

signatures of the head of MUI’s fatwa committee and his assistant. They are issued from MUI’s

glossy new building, with Ma’ruf Amin’s office on the highest floor. Insofar as MUI is advising

individuals, it is on paper and under the auspices of expertise, rather than through gentle counsel

and ethical imploring of Muslims to be their best selves.

In light of the changing nature of MUI’s power and the concomitantly changing authority of

its fatwas, the paper argues that contemporary fatwas contain no innate authority, nor do they

have any inherent effects. Instead, the authority of a fatwa is tied to the authority of the

organization issuing the fatwa. Scholars seeking to understand the politics of fatwas would do

well to start with organizations rather than state-corporatism (Porter 2002), charisma (Kingsley

2014) or ethics (Agrama 2010). This endeavor requires mapping the organizational position and

capacities of a specific actor, at a specific time, in response to a specific set of events.

Such endeavors are valuable beyond Indonesia. Clerics like Ayatollah Khamenei, Supreme

Leader of Iran, and Sheikh Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi of al-Azhar in Cairo are central to

contemporary politics, yet their mechanisms for influence are poorly understood. By focusing on

their organizational vehicles and the attendant forms of authority, scholars can cut through the

confusion that too often accompanies debates about Islam and politics.

The remainder of this paper elaborates these arguments. Section II outlines the state of the

literature on fatwas, Islamic legal authority, and MUI in order to pinpoint gaps. Section III

argues that MUI’s fatwas are emblematic of modern Islamic legal authority and its diverse

mechanisms of influence. It extends the theory to show how an organizational approach to the

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fatwa can shed light on the politics of Islamic authority in the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

Section IV is divided into the three periods outlined above. Section V discusses the limitations of

MUI’s authority and outlines the implications of MUI’s power for Indonesian democracy.

II. Existing Explanations for Islamic Legal Authority

In Islamic legal theory, a fatwa is a statement of non-binding opinion from a scholar of

Islamic law, usually a mufti. Historically, scholars regulated their own activities and delineated

professional standards for their behavior, meaning that all that was required for a person to give a

fatwa was religious knowledge and piety (taqwā). Fatwas were not binding on the person who

received them or the person who gave them. Yet, they were not arbitrary or lacking in

importance. Jurists have historically been reluctant to serve as fatwa givers because the issuer of

a fatwa has tremendous responsibility to God, and is exposed to the possibility of (divinely

punished) error (Masud, Messick and Powers 1996, 4, 16).

Observers who interpret fatwas as positive law often poorly understand this responsibility.

The ethical nature of the fatwa was most recently captured in Agrama’s (2010) erudite work on

Islamic law and society. He pushes back against the idea that fatwas are a tool of doctrinal

reform, bridging the divide between a classical tradition and the modern world, by showing that

the Islamic tradition has always been adaptive rather than static. Instead, Agrama suggests that

muftis issue fatwas in order to guide Muslims toward the ideal self.

The idea that fatwas are ethical in nature provides a useful, albeit insufficient, departure

from the commonly-used Weberian typology of political authority. Weber defines authority as

that which is accepted as legitimate by those subjected to it. He identifies three forms (Weber

1947, 328-386). Charismatic authority, represented by the Prophet, is the purest form in that it

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claims the right to supersede existing normative orders and reveal new ones. Customary rulers,

such as monarchs, are representative of traditional authority. And rational-legal authority is

represented by government officials who hold office on the basis of specific rules and procedures

that define and limit their rights and responsibilities.

While Weber’s typology proved useful for mapping patterns of authority in 18th century

Europe, it is less helpful for mapping varieties of authority among modern Muslim communities.

In the past twenty years, scholars of Islamic law and society have made major advances in

understanding the similarities and differences between the traditional shari’a as it was practiced

prior to the nineteenth century and as it is understood and envisioned by modern states. Wael

Hallaq’s influential text, Sharī'a: Theory, Practice, Transformations, maps the radical

disjuncture between the pre-modern shari’a and contemporary “Islamic law”: the former was

grounded in ethics, customary norms, and local customary practices that created and maintained

a “well ordered society,” while the latter is uniform and implemented by the state (Hallaq 2009).

In Iza Hussin’s careful analysis, premodern shari’a was flattened to accord with the static,

uniform version of law envisioned by colonial administrators and postcolonial statebuilders

(Hussin 2016). It was also narrowed; rather than including administrative or commercial law, its

jurisdiction has been limited to family law, gender, and religious observance. It is for this reason

that Hussin describes the East India Company and Muslim state-builders in India as

implementing “Anglo-Muslim law” rather than shari’a (Hussin 2016, 85).

Malaysia is a key case for this literature; Hussin uses it to demonstrate how key features of

the shari’a were cast aside or unintentionally subverted by colonial state builders and Muslim

elites. The Malaysia example is instructive for the present study as well, since it has served as

something of a normative ideal for MUI. Tamir Moustafa demonstrates how the Malaysian state,

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by making fatwas binding, paradoxically subverts the classical notion of fatwas as non-binding

legal opinions (Moustafa 2014, 162). Fatwas from the Islamic Religious Council, State Mufti,

and Islamic Legal Consultative Committee carry the force of state law with no effective

oversight from legislative institutions such as the Parliament (Moustafa 2018, 44).

Another useful comparative case is Brunei. Only the State Mufti has the authority to issue

“legal” fatwas (Müller 2015, 2017). Fatwas in Brunei are now binding state law, deployed by

state religious institutions in order to coopt opposition, promote piety, and authorize a particular

version of orthodoxy. The cases of Malaysia and Brunei are helpful for comparative and

theoretical purposes, as well as helping to explain where MUI’s ideas originate; there is evidence

that institutional norms have diffused from Malaysia and Brunei to Indonesia through regular

meetings of their respective Ministries of Religion (Pelita 1991a, 1991b). This surprising

pathway for norm diffusion runs counter to that assumed by the scholarship on transnational

Islamic influence, whereby norms diffuse from the Middle East—usually Saudi Arabia, Egypt,

or Iran—to the Muslim “periphery”.

The new literature on the state cooptation of Islamic law as a form of modern political

authority provides a crucial starting point for explaining MUI’s power, and the authority of the

fatwa. Yet, like Weber’s rational-legal authority, this research relies on a conception of authority

that is grounded in state sovereignty, the rule of law, and control of religion. Such a conception

of the authority of the fatwa is less helpful once we depart from “bureaucratized Islam” (Müller

and Steiner 2018). Rather than being bureaucratized by the state, MUI has increasingly contested

state hegemony by lobbying from above and using mass mobilization and the threat of violence

from below (for parallels with al-Azhar see Moustafa 2000).

Beyond pedagogical and legal-rational authority, there are two common explanations for

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MUI’s growing power. The first and most common explanation centers on the changing ideology

of the Indonesian public. In this view, MUI’s growing authority is a reflection of public opinion,

which has purportedly evolved from supporting democracy to theocracy (Arifianto 2018).

Indeed, since democratization in 1998, conservatives have increasingly set the public agenda,

while more moderate Islamic organizations appear to have lost influence.

This explanation has some merit. Indicators from the World Values Survey (WVS) suggest

that Indonesians may not favor the differentiation of religion and state as much as they did in the

past and thus may favor more religious rather than secular political authority. In a 2001 survey,

90% of respondents agree or strongly agree with the statement “Religious leaders should not

influence government;” this number drops precipitously to 54% in the 2006 survey (WVS 2018).

Indonesian religious authorities may also be more conservative now than in the 1980s, when

Muslim moderates like Syafi’i Maarif, Abdurrahman Wahid, and Nurcholish Madjid set the

public agenda. The loudest intellectuals in contemporary Indonesia are conservative, which is

why Martin van Bruinessen describes Indonesian Islam as having taken a “conservative turn”

(2013).

Yet this explanation leaves as many questions as it provides answers. On a different WVS

indicator of differentiation, there is far less change, with 86% of respondents in 2001, then 74%

in 2006 agreeing that “Religious leaders should not influence how people vote.” Similarly, Greg

Fealy and Robin Bush’s research on support for the mass Islamic organizations Nahdlatul Ulama

(NU) and Muhammadiyah finds that while the giants of moderate Islam remain influential in

religious affairs, their sway in politics has dropped markedly, suggesting that Indonesians

continue to favor the differentiation of religion and state (Fealy and Bush 2014).

A second line of explanation focuses less on the changing ideology of the public than on the

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behavior of elites. Thomas B. Pepinsky, R. William Liddle and Saiful Mujani contend that

religious piety is a poor predictor of political preferences and that the “conservative turn” is a

function of strategies of mobilization (2018). Likewise, in a prescient early analysis of MUI’s

rise, the International Crisis Group noted that MUI has skillfully mobilized radicals in civil

society in order to pressure the government, with its greatest success with President Yudhyono,

who in 2005 and 2007 gave MUI his support to play a prominent role in policymaking (ICG

2008, 8-10; see also ICG 2001, 2, 16). And Jeremy Menchik’s research on the history of

intolerance toward heterodox groups demonstrates that elites have long drawn on intolerance as a

productive aspect of Indonesian nationalism (2014). Conservatives and Islamists are not new to

Indonesian politics; they are newly visible.

This second explanation is consistent with the argument pursued in this paper. Yet, the

existing literature falls short in several key respects. First, these explanations fail to explain how,

when, and why conservatives have been able to set the agenda. They take for granted the

authority of the conservatives rather than explicate its origins. Second, these explanations

emphasize only the opportunities and innovations of MUI in the post-Suharto period, ignoring

the pivotal moves by MUI to developing its economic, media, and links to radicals in the 1990s,

long before reformasi. Third and finally, these explanations ignores the changing organizational

forms and subsequent authority of Islamic organizations; to understand the power of MUI

fatwas, it is important to contrast MUI’s modes of authority in the three periods, as well as with

more traditional Islamic organizations like Muhammadiyah, NU, and Egypt’s al-Azhar.

III. Argument: Modern Islamic Legal Authority

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MUI came to be a leading religious and legal authority in Indonesia by aggregating

influence through organizational expansion, innovation, and alliance. While discussions of

MUI’s influence invariably describe its fatwas as “non-binding” and its institutional position as

“quasi-state,” these descriptions rely on outdated assumptions. MUI has grown in power by

using modern forms of authority familiar to scholars of comparative politics and international

relations, such as regulatory authority, expert authority, agenda-setting authority, lobbying, mass

mobilization, and coercive authority (Keck and Sikkink 1998).

In that respect, MUI’s authority is illustrative of the possibilities presented by the

fragmented and decentralized nature of Islamic authority in the modern world. Mass education

and the expansion of state control over society has destabilized traditional religious authority

(Eickelman 1992; Hefner 1998). While secularization theorists believed that such destabilization

would lead to the decline of religion, more recent work suggests that pluralism, competition, and

contestation are the result (Meuleman2011; Eickelman 1998). MUI is a prime example of

successful competition. Over time MUI has successfully expanded its authority over issues by

aggregating modern forms of social control.

Specifically, since 1990 MUI has expanded its mandate, gaining regulatory power over

shari’a banking and food certification through its National Sharia Board (Dewan Syariah

Nasional, DSN MUI) and its Institute for Food, Drugs and Cosmetic Assessment (Lembaga

Pengkajian Pangan, Obat-Obatan dan Kosmetika, LPPOM MUI), both of which are recognized

by parliamentary legislation. Likewise, MUI has built close alliances with the regulatory bodies

for media, and by doing so has demarcated the limits of acceptable discourse in film and TV.

MUI has meanwhile sought to distance itself from the government by shifting its institutional

program from the position of a subordinate coopted by the state to that of an autonomous entity

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that lobbies the state in innovative ways, including as a member on high-level commissions and

advisory boards. This innovation has also taken more concrete forms, such as MUI’s move out of

the national mosque into a separate building that gives it greater autonomy. Around 2010, MUI

moved its office from a back hallway of the government-built and -owned Istiqlal Mosque to an

independent, modern, luxurious space where MUI could issue decrees from on high.1 Finally,

MUI has meticulously aligned with mass movements in society, directing their mobilization in

order to lobby for policies from below through the appearance of mass support as well as the

threat of violence.

MUI’s fatwas thus embody a diverse array of types of authority, all of which are thoroughly

modern rather than being solely a function of charismatic authority, state corporatism, legal-

rational authority, traditional authority, or ethical authority as exemplified by al-Azhar. To

understand MUI’s growing power, it is necessary to look beyond these traditional modes of

Islamic legal authority to modern organizational forms and their attendant strategies for exerting

social control.

MUI is trying to make its fatwas binding, like the fatwas of modern Malaysian and Bruneian

muftis in the employ of the state, and it has been partially successful. Where MUI departs from

those cases, however, is in its mechanisms for doing so. In period II, select MUI fatwas became

binding though regulatory means. In period III, a broader array of MUI fatwas became binding

through formal lobbying from above (directed specifically toward the Ministry of Religion,

President, Constitutional Court, and Legislature) and through informal lobbying from below

using alliances with mass movements and the threat of violence. In other words, MUI is creating

Islamic law through other means than Malaysian and Bruneian ulama, but with similar effects.

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More theoretically, this aggregation of religious-political authority suggests that the key to

understanding MUI’s influence is recognizing that it uses a broad and creative array of strategies

of influence. Like the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jabatan Kemajuan Islam

Malaysia, JAKIM), MUI relies on its regulatory authority over mundane issues like food

certification and Islamic banking to compel everyday Muslims into compliance. Akin to the

Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, MUI deploys mass mobilization, filling the streets and

compelling the state into conformity with its policy preferences. Like the European Council for

Fatwa and Research, MUI brings together prominent Muslim scholars in order to unify their

jurisprudence and issue joint fatwas that represent the expertise of the collective, which in turn

shape public behavior through ethical appeals. Similar to Saudi Arabia’s leading religious

family, the Al ash-Sheikh, MUI partners with government leaders in order to gain influence in

return. In comparative theoretical perspective, MUI’s fatwas are emblematic of modern religious

authority and its creative, diverse mechanisms for social influence (Hoesterey 2015).

This aggregation is innovative for an Indonesian religious organization, but should be

unsurprising to scholars of law and society. MUI is simply adapting strategies of social control

developed by others; Suharto created new institutions to control social forces, liberal activists use

NGOs to generate allies in civil society, and Islamists use mass mobilization to put pressure on

the state. MUI is playing by the rules of the game. As Michael Peletz remarks in reference to

Islamic court judges in Malaysia, “there is only one game in town, and that game defines both

the field of play and the rules governing how to play” (Peletz 2015, drawing on Bourdieu and

Wacquant 1992). Looking beyond religion, then, MUI is both innovative and derivative. In the

modern age, the authority of a fatwa reflects the dominant logic of political authority in society.

In that respect, Lev’s insights remain authoritative (1972).

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Beyond MUI, this argument suggests that mapping the political authority of fatwas should

begin with modern organizations. For example, in 2010 Muhammadiyah issued a controversial

fatwa saying that smoking was prohibited (haram). Responses ranged from strong support by

health organizations to strong opposition from the Ministry of Religious Affairs, unsurprising

given that tax revenue from tobacco makes up a large portion of the ministry’s budget. Public

commentators said the “non-binding” fatwa would have no impact. Yet Muhammadiyah runs

thousands of schools and hundreds of hospitals and health clinics, and smoking was banned at all

of those sites. I witnessed firsthand the power of Muhammadiyah’s fatwa at its 2010 meeting

when I asked one Muhammadiyah leader to undertake a survey. He agreed to do so, but then

turned his back to me in order to get his glasses out of his front pocket without revealing the

packet of cigarettes hidden there. Other smokers could be found hiding behind buildings, in the

corner of empty rooms, or off the grounds (Personal observation, July 5, 2010, Yogyakarta).

Elsewhere in Indonesia’s public sphere, smoking is omnipresent. Muhammadiyah’s fatwa was

authoritative because it became policy in thousands of locations.

JAKIM provides a nice illustration of the virtues of this approach beyond Indonesia. JAKIM

fatwas are published by official state organs, viewable online and also distributed among all

government offices and public institutions such as mosques and schools. Rather than being

emblematic of ethical or pedagogical authority, they are the quintessential example of coercive

state authority, so much so that the failure to obey published fatwas can result in a fine or

imprisonment (Tayeb 2017, 6, 16 fn. 1). Rather than reflecting solely pre-modern Islamic law,

JAKIM’s e-syariah and e-fatwa systems reflect modern forms of legal reasoning and the

agglomeration of norms from Japan and Britain (Moustafa 2018, 38; Peletz 2013)

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Iran provides another illustration of this approach. Ayatollah Khomeini’s famous fatwa

against chemical, biological and nuclear weapons has been the source of much debate and

confusion. Advocates of international diplomacy have pointed to the fatwa as evidence of the

Iranian government’s commitment to non-violent methods of dispute resolution, while skeptics

have mined Shiite theology to suggest that the fatwa is not important due to dissimulation

(Shuster 2012). Missing from the debate is the more banal conclusion that Khomeini’s fatwa

should be read as neither transcendent nor irrelevant, but as a policy. Policies are important

drivers of state behavior, and also subject to change given shifts in political, economic, or

military conditions. Indeed, fatwas from the Supreme Leader have been reversed, repealed, and

revised in the past, and there is no reason to believe that theological opinions about nuclear

weapons are not subject to similar revision (Khalaji 2011, 19).

An organizational approach to the authority of the fatwa is also useful beyond the confines

of the state. In 2004, when the Jordanian government was battling extremism, King Abdullah

wrote to 24 of the world’s most senior Islamic scholars in order to gather their views on who is a

Muslim, under what conditions it is possible to declare someone an apostate (takfir), and what

qualifications are necessary to issue a fatwa. Based on the fatwas crafted in response, including

from Yusuf al-Qaradawi, Mohamed Sayed Tantawi of al-Azhar, and Iraq’s Grand Ayatollah Ali

al-Sistani, Abdullah convened a conference of 200 scholars from 50 countries, who issued a

declaration called “The Amman Message” to emphasize Islam’s values of tolerance and

opposition to the practice of takfir.

How should scholars interpret these fatwas, or their being bundled into a larger statement?

This paper suggests is it less productive to view them as emblematic of ethical, charismatic or

legal-rational authority than as characteristic of the soft international law typical of international

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agreements between state and non-state actors. On issues of trade, environmental protection, and

human rights, such non-binding agreements help build normative order without constraining

state sovereignty (Abbott and Snidel 2000). In that respect, The Amman Message should be

understood as yet another way in which fatwas are being reimagined and deployed by modern

Islamic authorities.

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IV. Three Periods of MUI

Period I (1975-1989): State Corporatism

In 1975, President Suharto created MUI as a hierarchical series of consultative councils. At

the outset, MUI had “little impact on the Islamic community” and the wider public (McVey

1983, 209). Two years earlier Suharto had forced all Islamic political parties into PPP, which

helped him to consolidate power and neutralize opposition; MUI was intended to similarly

neutralize ulama that were active outside of party politics. It was designed as a mechanism to

“co-opt, fragment, and neutralize Islam as an autonomous political force, regulate associational

life, and ensure mass turnouts for [the political party] Golkar at election time” (Porter 2002, 76).

Figure 1 provides visual representation of this point, depicting MUI members waiting to be

received by Suharto.

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Figure 1: A line of MUI members wait to be received by their superior, Suharto. With Suharto is Datuk Palimo Kayo, MUI Provincial Chair for West Sumatra (Pelita 1985).

MUI was also the Indonesian government’s formal face abroad in bodies like the

Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC). In April 1974 the OIC urged Muslim governments to

declare Ahmadiyah, a small religious sect often perceived as heterodox by Sunni Muslims, to be

a non-Muslim minority (Friedmann 1989, 44). The statement led to anti-Ahmadi resolutions in

Jordan, Mauritania, and Mecca and exacerbated ongoing conflict in Pakistan. MUI issued its own

fatwa against Ahmadiyah in 1984, decrying the group as a heretical sect.

The 1984 fatwa against Ahmadiyah had little effect. The Suharto government was more

concerned with development than heterodoxy, and MUI fatwas that opposed state policy were

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largely ignored, or in some cases opposed by Suharto, such as the fatwa on Muslims not

attending Christmas celebrations, which led to the MUI chair’s resignation (Nasir 2014, 494).

The 1984 fatwa on Ahmadiyah was ignored; the few newspaper articles mentioning the fatwa

focused on the dispute between the Ministry of Religion, which like MUI sought to ban

Ahmadiyah, and the Ministry of Justice, which had given Ahmadiyah legal recognition (Pelita

1984).

MUI’s authority in this period was a product of its charismatic religious scholars (ulama or

kiyai in the common Indonesian form)—in this period, the famous Muhammadiyah leader

Hamka (1977-1981), then Syukri Ghozali (1981-1984), then another Muhamadiyah leader,

Hasan Basri (1984-1990)—as well as of MUI’s corporatist association with the state. It was seen

as the umbrella for Indonesian Islam. Yet, its authority was also contested, with Abdurrahman

Wahid launching the earliest critiques in 1981 (Sirry 2013, 106). Without more muscular sources

of authority, MUI’s influence was limited.

By focusing on the organizational reasons for MUI’s authority, this paper seeks to counter

more ideological accounts of its influence. That said, it is worth closing this section with a brief

account of MUI’s mission in 1975, since it changed so drastically in subsequent periods. MUI

was tasked with serving as the “translator of the concepts and activities of national or local

development for the people;” being a council that “gives advice and opinions to the government

concerning religious life;” and being the “mediator between the government and the ‘ulamā”

(Ichwan 2005, 48). MUI’s authority stemmed from the charisma of its ulama and its closeness to

the state, which led to influence around the margins of the state and fatwas that amplified state

policy, weakly resisted state corporatism, or were simply ignored.

21

Period II (1990-2005): Institutional Innovation

Period II was a time of institutional innovation and expansion under the leadership of two

prominent NU scholars, Ali Yafie (1990-1999) and Sahal Mahfudh (1999-2014). The Institute

for Food, Drugs and Cosmetic Assessment was created in January 1989, then issued its first halal

certificate in 1994 (Ichwan 2013, 71). Halal certification is a labeling system that assures

consumers that a product complies with rules about ritual cleanliness. Islamic banking began in

May 1992 with the Bank Muamalat Indonesia (BMI), an MUI project with support from

government officials including Suharto (Ichwan 2006, 205). Both programs began small, and

MUI continued to be a resource-poor organization for most of the 1990s. Hosen reports that MUI

would frequently give board members only a day’s notice about meetings and an honorarium of

50,000 rupiah ($22 USD), which would not even cover their transport to Istiqlal mosque. Many

members did not have access to a library to prepare for meetings (Hosen 2004, 177). Not

surprisingly, many scholars have commented on the relatively shallow quality of MUI’s

arguments in this decade; Ahmad Sukardja argues that MUI in the early 1990s was a low-

capacity organization whose fatwas were prepared hastily (Hosen 2004, 177).

Growing financial independence, however, led to program development. At its 1995

congress, MUI laid out an ambitious program that included the promotion of Islamic

brotherhood, education, Islamic economics, Islamic identity and propagation (da’wa),

community development, and the training of ulama (Ichwan 2005, 49). MUI claimed that it was

sending 2,000 preachers (da’i) to areas where the state’s transmigration program was active

(Antara 1993). Ichwan reports that each da’i received 100,000 rupiah ($44) per month for three

years, as well as one bike (Ichwan 2006, 202).

The early 1990s was also a period of cooperation between MUI and ICMI. Created in

22

December 1990, ICMI was a Suharto-sponsored association designed to mobilize Muslim

supporters against Suharto’s opponents (Liddle 1996). It was initially organized by five students

from the Universitas Brawijaya in Malang, East Java, but its importance lies more in its backing

by Suharto’s deputy, B. J. Habibie, and Minister for Population and the Environment Emil

Salim. Neither was then known as a Muslim leader, but instead as high-ranking officials close to

Suharto. Habibie was an engineer and technocrat, Salim a prominent economist. The group they

put together included many government officials that were jointly associated with MUI, namely

Azwar Anas, then coordinating minister for people's welfare, Lt. Gen. (ret) Achmad Tirtosudiro,

head of the critical National Logistics Body which controlled food distribution, and West

Sumatran Governor Hasan Basri. Other Suharto officials with prominent Islamic credentials

included Ministry of Manpower official Din Syamsuddin, and the agricultural economist Amin

Aziz. ICMI also included genuine kiyai like K.H. Ali Yafie, and other prominent religious

scholars like the legal scholar Jimly Asshidique, Muhammadiyah leader and Gadjah Mada

University political scientist Amien Rais, the Shia intellectual Jalaluddin Rahmat, the journalist

and historian Syafi'i Anwar, and very senior Islamist figures from the 1950s like Anwar Haryono

and Lukman Harun.2 There were formal ties between MUI and ICMI, such as their joint

statement against a state-run lottery program (MUI 1997, 193). The lottery, commonly known as

Porkas (Forecast), was discontinued less than two weeks later. But the more important

relationships were informal. ICMI’s architects infused MUI with more power than previously,

with Jimly Asshiddique and Amin Aziz at the helm of MUI’s emergent halal food certification

program and Azwar Anas, Emil Salim, and Ali Yafie at the center of the Islamic banking

program (Pelita 1993). These ties suggest that the enduring legacy of Suharto’s emboldening of

political Islam can be found not in ICMI, whose influence has waned, but in the expanding

23

power of MUI.

During this period and into period III, MUI gained regulatory power as a result of

administrative regulations and parliamentary law. DSN MUI oversees the Sharia Supervisory

Boards (Dewan Pengawas Syariah, DPS) that are required in all Islamic financial institutions,

including banks and Islamic insurance companies (Lindsey 2012, 261). The DSN is currently

chaired by Ma’ruf Amin and receives funding from the government through the Ministry of

Finance and the central bank, as well as payments from DPS in Islamic financial institutions.

Scholars estimate that this is a significant source of funding for MUI, given that Islamic banking

is estimated to account for 3% of the country’s $42 billion in financial assets (Nikkei 2016).

Each DPS is required to consult the DSN MUI for guidance on issues of doctrine, which it gives

in the form of fatwas. It issued 50 fatwas between 1993 and 2003 related to banking and

insurance, and maintains active authority in finance (Lindsey 2012, 265).

MUI also gets funding and authority from its halal food certification program. The law on

Animal Health and Husbandry requires that a certifying body endorse all halal meat (Lindsey

2012, 266). Until the end of 2017, MUI was the only certifying body (Jakarta Post 2017).

Ministry of Agriculture regulations oblige all businesses in foreign countries producing meat for

export to Indonesia to have a staff to ensure their products are halal. This staff is to be

“controlled and supervised by a Halal Certification Institute recognized by and cooperating with

[LP-POM MUI] and the Fatwa Commission of the MUI” (Lindsey 2012, 266-267, citing article

15(1)(e)). Numerous laws and regulations from the 1990s and 2000s grant MUI sole authority as

the inspection agency for halal food (Lindsey 2012, 267).

Given its regulatory authority, the legal scholar Tim Lindsey describes MUI in this period as

a “QUANGO,” a quasi-autonomous non-governmental organization (Lindsey 2012, 255). In the

24

British and American traditions, QUANGOS are financed largely by the government, are

responsible to their own board of directors, and are located on government property. Examples

include research units sponsored by the U.S. Defense Department and private organizations

established by government funding, such as the Rand Corporation. The implications of this

change for the authority of MUI’s fatwas are striking: “…MUI fatwas in Indonesia are no longer

always just religious recommendations issued from civil society that lack binding force, as in the

past. In the case of the halal certification industry, as for Islamic banking, some MUI fatwas now

have legal status as enforceable regulatory instruments of state” (Lindsey 2012, 268).

The result of this increased power is that in period II MUI began contesting state authority.

In December 2000, MUI issued a fatwa stating that the Japanese company Ajinomoto’s products

were haram because the company used bacto soytone, which contains a pig enzyme, in the

production of its widely used monosodium glutamate (MSG) products (Ichwan 2005, 69-70). As

a result, MUI revoked Ajinomoto’s halal certification.

Indonesian President Wahid disagreed with MUI’s decision and issued a fatwa in support of

Ajinomoto. Yet, by this point in his presidency Wahid was plagued by scandal, and MUI proved

to be more powerful than him. Laode Djeni Hasmar of Golkar said that only MUI had the

authority to issue such a fatwa. PPP and other Islamist parties followed suit. The chief of police,

General Bimantoro, said his officers would follow MUI rather than Wahid (Ichwan 2005, 70-71).

MUI was building on its growing authority as well as its other battles with Wahid; in 1999

Wahid had suggested that MUI should be financially independent and have an office outside of

Istiqlal, and MUI had opposed Wahid’s policies on opening trade with Israel and overturning the

1966 ban on Communism (Ichwan 2005, 62, 70). This fatwa is also a reminder of the limits of

explanations grounded in charismatic authority. Wahid was a far more charismatic, famous, and

25

popular ulama compared to Ma’ruf Amin or Mahfudh, yet he proved less powerful than MUI due

to its regulatory authority and political alliances.

MUI has also shaped the country’s media environment. In 1983, during the production of

the film Sunun Kalijaga, MUI leaders participated in a discussion about how religious principles

could be promoted though film, but MUI had no effect on programming (Hereen 2012, 116).

Period II saw greater influence. In 1994, Ali Yafie and Hasan Basri called for the film True Lies

to be banned on the grounds that it was offensive to Muslims (Republika 1994). The film was

removed from theaters less than two weeks later. In 1996, Basri protested the films Jin dan Jun

and Si Manis Jembatan Ancol on the grounds that they presented false religious teachings. His

critique did not lead to censorship of these specific films, but two years later the Film Censorship

Board (LSF) was instructed by the Minister of Information to ban films and television series with

themes that misrepresent religious teachings (Hereen 2012, 146). And in 2004, MUI signed on to

the popular television preacher AA Gym’s campaign to get the film Buruan cium gue! (Hurry Up

and Kiss Me!) banned on the grounds that it promoted premarital sex among teenagers. The film

was withdrawn from cinemas (Hereen 2012, 163).

MUI has gained even more power over media through its influence on LSF and the

Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) and through its partnership with the mass movement

FPI. As a result, MUI no longer needs to rely on fatwas or government ministers to have

programs censored. The most recent manifestation of influence is an award that KPI presented in

2018 to Ma’ruf Amin for being a major figure in broadcasting (RMOL 2018). In another

innovation, MUI itself has handed out media awards since 2001 in order to incentivize television

producers to run religious programs during Ramadan (Hereen 2012, 128, 175). The criterion for

the awards seems to be the quantity of programming, not the quality (Barkin 2004, 15).

26

MUI’s ally, ICMI, was innovative during this period in its strategies to defeat its opponents,

using the claim that they were guilty of “defamation of religion” (penodaan agama) in order to

have them harassed, prosecuted, and jailed. In March 1995, the ICMI leader and Suharto loyalist

Din Syamsuddin launched such a campaign against a critic of Suharto, Permadi Satrio Wiwoho.

Syamsuddin used a recording of a speech Permadi had given in April 1994 to allege that Permadi

had insulted Suharto, Golkar, and the Prophet Muhammad. This was a repeat of an earlier

campaign by Syamsuddin and Golkar to mobilize the Muslim community against Arswendo

Atmowiloto, editor of the mass tabloid Monitor (Hefner 2000, 175-178). On the same day that

Syamsuddin’s statement was published, MUI chair Basri called a press conference to denounce

Permadi’s statements and demand legal action against him. In the end, Permadi was convicted of

slander and sentenced to eight months in jail. Shortly thereafter, in 1998, Syamsuddin becomes

Secretary of the MUI Steering Committee (Panitia Pengarah), then becomes General Secretary

in 2000 (MUI 1999, 2005). Syamsuddin and MUI again deployed the charge of “defamation”

against Ahmadi Muslims in the early 2000s, and in 2016 against the Christian governor of

Jakarta in order to cripple his reelection campaign.

After the fall of Suharto, MUI’s purview expanded horizontally (through tackling more

issues and contesting state power) and vertically (by reaching down to society). As it moved out

from under the corporatist control of the Ministry of Religion, MUI began acting more like a

peer institution, contesting the state’s policy prerogatives. This shift is readily apparent in MUI’s

changing approach to the Compilation of Islamic Law (Kompilasi Hukum Islam, KHI). In 1985,

MUI was involved in the project of codifying Islamic law to be used by the Islamic court system,

but was only one of 17 committee members that drafted the KHI. This was a top-down process,

with MUI “simply there to justify KHI” (Ichwan 2006, 128). This is in sharp contrast to MUI’s

27

influence by 2004, when a team within the Ministry of Religious Affairs developed a series of

reforms to the KHI. After the proposals were made public, MUI and other organizations objected

and successfully blocked even a discussion of reforms to the KHI, let alone their enactment

(Ichwan 2006, 266).

In Islamic legal theory, fatwas are a response to a specific question asked of a specific mufti

about an actual situation; they are very rarely hypothetical (Masud, Messick, and Powers 1996).

Yet after 2000, MUI began setting the “agenda” for policy in Indonesia, giving fatwas whether

requested or not (Nasir 2014, 495; Ichwan 2005, 50). In 2000, MUI’s mission reflected its new

role, defined as being the fatwā giver (mufti) “whether requested or not”; guide and servant of

the Muslim community (rā’i wa khādim al-ummah); pioneer in the reform and the renewal

movement (al- iṣlāḥ wa’l tajdīd); and upholder of the Quaranic dictate to be a “moral force …

for social rehabilitation” (Ichwan 2005, 50).

Period III (2005-present): Mass Mobilization

2005 marked the debut of the assertive, agenda-setting MUI, powered by regulatory,

charismatic and formal state authority while free from the financial constraints of the state. In

this period, MUI has repeatedly crafted fatwas that have been seen as binding. The mission of

MUI as articulated in 2005 included the roles listed at the end of the previous section, as well as

“upholder of the known good and forbidding the reprehensible” (al-amr bi al-ma‘rūf wa al-nahy

‘an al-munkar). Notice that there is nothing in the mission about being the advisor of the state.

MUI in this period often leads the state.

MUI reissued its fatwa against Ahmadiyah in July 2005. The difference in the influence of

MUI’s fatwas in 2005 and 1984 is instructive in two respects. First, there is a common

28

perception that MUI has grown more conservative since democratization, and indeed it has

grown more assertive about its support for shari’a-based legislation (Hasyim 2015; Ichwan

2013). Yet on the Ahmadiyah issue—as with the issues of religious deviance, inter-religious

marriage, Muslims’ attendance at Christmas celebrations, the visual depiction of the Prophet

Muhammad, penalties for drug users, alcohol consumption, opposition to transgender persons,

and support for family planning—MUI’s views are best characterized as static.

Second, what have changed are MUI’s mechanisms for influence. The 2005 fatwa against

Ahmadiyah was part of a broader campaign launched at a seminar titled “Ahmadiyah: Its

Deviation and Danger” at Istiqlal Mosque (then MUI’s headquarters) on August 11, 2002. Amin

Djamaluddin, the head of the Islamic Research and Study Institute (Lembaga Penelitian dan

Pengkajian Islam, LPPI) and the most persistent proponent of the anti-Ahmadiyah movement,

was one of the main presenters (Burhani 2013, 226). Violence followed two months later, with

mass mobilization in East Lombok, Kuningan, and Tasikmalaya, then spreading in 2005 to

Bogor under the leadership of FPI and Djamaluddin. On July 15, 2005, upwards of 10,000

people attacked the Bogor headquarters of the Ahmadiyah Indonesia Congregation (Jamaah

Ahmadiyah Indonesia). Armed with sticks and batons, the attackers broke into the compound and

set fire to buildings. Nearly 400 police officers stood outside the compound as this happened,

then shuttled Ahmadis to the Bogor prosecutor’s office for “safekeeping” (Jakarta Post 2005).

Djamaluddin’s campaign against Ahmadiyah dates back decades, but only in the 2000s did his

research have the authority of the state. In 2005 he was appointed by MUI to be its representative

for discussions about heretical sects with a team from the Coordinating Body for the Surveillance

of Spiritual Movements in Society (Badan Koordinasi Pengawasan Aliran Kepercayaan

Masyarakat, Bakor Pakem) in the Attorney General’s Office. When Bakor Pakem recommended

29

to the government that it outlaw and disband Ahmadiyah, the contents of its recommendation

strongly resembled the letters that Djamaluddin had sent to the Attorney General’s Office in

1994 and 1996 (Burhani 2013, 228-229).

When MUI re-issued its fatwa against Ahmadiyah, it did so not from a position of

subservience, but with financial autonomy from the state, strong ties to violent movements, and

close ties to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY). Rather than focus its energies on

getting the Ministry of Justice to repeal recognition of Ahmadis, as in 1984, MUI lobbied SBY

directly and partnered with Islamic vigilantes to lobby from below using the threat and

enactment of violence. The alliance between FPI and MUI was thus born of shared goals and

complementary avenues of influence. Burhani notes, “When the government did not give its

support, in a number of cases, it was through the muscle of the mob that Islamic orthodoxy could

be defended and enforced” (2013, 234). FPI helped MUI establish itself as an independent actor

without losing its status as a quasi-state institution: “FPI uses MUI’s fatwa to legitimize violent

vigilantism such as its attacks on the Ahmadiyah sect, while MUI uses this violence to justify the

need for its fatwa to be followed in order to ensure ‘religious harmony’” (Wilson 2008, 205).

Unlike in periods I and II, MUI now runs a lucrative patronage network that benefits

vigilante groups. MUI received funding from the Ministry of Religion in the amount of 2 billion

rupiah ($144,000) in 2009 and 3 billion rupiah ($216,000) in 2010 and in 2011 (Lindsey 2012,

262). Based on interviews with leaders and MUI reports, Ichwan estimates that MUI received

649 billion rupiah ($46,682,636) from its halal certification activity between 2012 and 2017, or

around 108 billion rupiah ($7,780,000) annually (Moch Nur Ichwan, May 9, 2018, e-mail

message to author). When Parliament established a legislative committee to review a draft law

on pornography and pornographic actions in response to pressure from MUI (Bush 2007, 178),

30

MUI then received “socialization funds” from the Ministry of Religious Affairs, which it

distributed to its allies in the street: FPI, the Betawi Brotherhood Forum (Forum Betawi

Rempug), the Indonesian Mujahidin Council (Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia) and the Indonesian

Liberation Party (Hizb ut Tharir) (Wilson 2008, 204-205). And similar to the national level, MUI

has clear connections at the provincial level with radical groups that help it gain leverage with

the police and government ministries by using violence to create crisis (Ichwan 2012, 170).

The result of this dynamic is that MUI fatwas regarding blasphemy are very often binding,

backed by the coercive capacity of the state. Ichwan notes, “Government, police, judges and

media have treated the MUI as if it is part of [a] state institution” (Ichwan 2012, 170). On the

issue of Ahmadiyah, MUI defined the problem (exercising its agenda setting authority), issued a

formal definition of deviancy (expert authority), lobbied the state for support in meetings with

the Ministry of the Interior and Ministry of Religion (employing lobbying and regulatory

authority), and then used mass mobilization (people power) and explicit or implicit violence

(coercive authority) to convince the police to enforce its fatwa. Further, MUI took actions to

ensure that the fatwa would be enforced consistently. ICG reports, “…Ma’ruf Amin told the

television audience, and later reiterated in an interview, that MUI was putting together a

monitoring team to determine whether Ahmadiyah was obeying the decree. The team would be

organised by MUI branches at province, district and subdistrict levels, and mass Islamic

organisations would be invited to participate” (ICG 2008, 8). In monitoring Ahmadis for

compliance with the fatwa, MUI was simply extending its regulatory power from the realms of

food and finance to faith.

MUI has deployed mass mobilization and coercive authority on multiple occasions since

2005. In a 2010 trial on the constitutionality of Indonesia’s blasphemy law, mentions of crimes

31

against Ahmadi Muslims led to the vigilantes on the second floor of the courtroom screaming at

the witnesses until the lawyer for MUI, Muhammad Luthfi Hakim, signaled for his allies to quiet

down (Personal observation, Jakarta, March 10 and 12, 2010). Likewise, former Jakarta governor

Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (Ahok) landed in prison in 2016 through a combination of a MUI fatwa,

political alliance, and mass mobilization. In this respect, the name of the coalition that organized

the mass protests, Gerakan Nasional Pengawal Fatwa MUI (National Movement to Safeguard

the Fatwa of the MUI) is misleading: more appropriate would be Gerakan MUI Melakukan

Fatwa MUI (MUI Movement to Enforce the Fatwa of the MUI).

V. Conclusion

This paper has demonstrated that classical theories of Islamic law, Weber’s typology, and

ethical theories of fatwas cannot explain MUI’s growing power or its modes of authority. MUI

has grown powerful by aggregating modern forms of authority: agenda-setting, lobbying, expert

authority, regulatory authority, mass mobilization, and coercive authority may all underpin the

power of a MUI fatwa.

MUI’s repertoire of influence raises two immediate questions. First, would MUI be as

powerful if it did not issue fatwas, but simply exerted authority through other means? After all,

in period III much of MUI’s influence has been exercised through lobbying, patronage, violence,

and other mechanisms. Yet, MUI appears to believe that its fatwas are not dispensable. Ma’ruf

Amin’s October 11, 2016, statement about Ahok was titled a “Religious Opinion” (Pendapat dan

Sikap Keagamaan) and not a fatwa (MUI 2016). But everyone involved elided this distinction,

especially the leaders of the GNPF-MUI.

32

Second, what are the limits of MUI’s influence? There remain issues on which MUI’s

authority is muted. Its 2007 fatwa against “infotainment” had little effect (Hartono 2015, 305-

306). Even shows about Islam tend to be folksy rather than pedagogical, leading MUI to accuse

producers of making “dakwahtainment” (Sofjan and Hidayati 2013). MUI has influence over

such shows through the KPI, but does not have a veto. MUI leader Cholil Ridwan recently

criticized filmmaker Hanung Bramanyato for his film Tanda Tanya (Question Mark), but the

film was released nonetheless and went on to be nominated for nine awards during the 2011

Indonesian Film Festival (Saat 2016, 562). Similarly, MUI’s attempt to have the National

Commission on Human Rights (Komisi Nasional Hak Asasi Manusia) disbanded was

unsuccessful (Jakarta Post 2000). And despite its being widely mocked, each year MUI re-issues

its fatwa against Muslims saying “Merry Christmas” or participating in Christmas celebrations

(Hussain 2012). These examples of truncated impact suggest that MUI has been most influential

when it moves into issue-areas that are not already occupied by other powerful actors and when

it is not competing against market forces.

Nonetheless, from the standpoint of empirical democratic theory MUI is too powerful and

unaccountable an institution. This concern became more pressing after President Joko Widodo’s

victory in April 2019 presidential election. With Ma’ruf Amin in the vice-presidential palace,

MUI’s transformation into the Indonesian version of JAKIM may accelerate. The result would be

national regulations that were once unthinkable, including requirements for Muslims to attend

Friday prayers and fast during Ramadan and for all businesses to obtain halal certification.

Similar to Malaysia, Indonesia could see mandatory prohibitions on drinking alcohol, gambling,

blasphemy, “sexual deviance,” interfaith marriage, and conversion out of Islam (Moustafa 2018,

31).

33

Indonesia is a remarkably resilient democracy, but for democracy to endure, the place and

power of MUI must be made consistent with democratic norms and practices (Aspinall 2015).

Thus, this paper concludes with observations on the ways in which MUI’s power is in conflict

with democracy, as well as potential remedies.

First, MUI has used its “non-state” status to avoid the transparency demanded of public

institutions, while simultaneously deploying multiple forms of authority to have its fatwas

enacted as if they were state law; this contradiction merits attention. One way to resolve this

conflict is to have all MUI funding made contingent on transparency in its contracting and

decision-making. Too little is known about MUI’s relationship to parliament and to the Ministry

of Religious Affairs; the internal working of MUI committees; the extent of the funding MUI

receives and the conditions under which it obtains funding; the mechanisms by which MUI

decisions are made; the methods by which it influences the KPI and the LSF; and the

mechanisms by which MUI leaders come into power. These are also pressing areas for scholarly

research.

Second, MUI’s monopoly control over halal food regulation and Islamic banking

certification incentivizes corruption and gives an unelected, unrepresentative actor power over

the public welfare (Kunkler and Stepan 2013). MUI is fulfilling tasks that are outsourced by the

state, yet the contracts are not granted based on meritocratic criteria and competition between

MUI and other organizations. Obvious options for reform include making food certification and

Islamic banking certification private and competitive, or a state responsibility akin to health

inspection. Thankfully, at the time of writing it appears that the state is pursuing the latter

approach. The 2014 Halal Products Law created a new body, the Halal Assurance Agency

(Badan Penyelenggara Jaminan Produk Halal) to administer halal certification.

34

Third and finally, MUI’s usurpation of the power of the legislature and the executive

contravenes the rule of law (Kunkler and Stepan 2013). Although MUI aspires to have its fatwas

seen as binding law by the state and society, similar to those of religious officials in Brunei and

Malaysia, that power has not been granted to MUI by Indonesia’s democratic institutions. The

police, courts, and elected officials need not treat MUI’s opinions as more than just that.

35

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1 The office of the Freedom Institute, now closed, was once located a few doors away from the MUI building. These real estate changes are a potent metaphor, since liberal Islam has fared poorly in the face of MUI’s rise. 2 Key sources of names of ICMI leaders include Hefner 2000, Aspinall 2005, and Schwarz 2000. Key sources of names of MUI leaders include MUI 1992, 1997a, 1997b, and 2005. I am grateful to Bob Hefner for suggesting this line of analysis.